When you are moving into the world of higher education, you have the choice of many potential courses laid out in front of you. They will all differ in one way or another, so you will need to look over the course and the institution carefully. The choices that you make at this initial stage will have a significant impact on your career, and this is bound to filter into the rest of your life as well. Of course, not everybody who is going into higher education are a teenager. There are also those who are looking for a complete career change, as well as the people who want to take on further education qualifications that can help them to progress and stand out from the crowd of other job seekers.
Of all the choices that you can possibly make, healthcare courses remain highly popular and are what people would deem to be a ‘sensible choice’. Of course, there has to be more to it than this. You need to consider all of the different factors that will influence your decision for a certain course (budget, distance, workload, teaching quality). As well as the pros and cons of choosing to engage in one subject area over another one. Bearing this in mind, here are a few of the main reasons why a degree or further education qualification in healthcare could well prove to be the right one for you.
Plenty of Employment Opportunities
We are living in a world that is highly competitive in terms of the career opportunities out there, which means that you need to be in a position where you can stand out from the crowd. However, this is not necessarily true in healthcare as patients are always going to need looking after in one capacity or another. Not only this, but we also live in a world in which there are ageing populations in every country, which inevitably means that more and more complicated healthcare issues are going to arise as a direct result, and people need experts in every field. There are also expanding areas such as physiotherapy as people look to stay active in their lives for longer than ever before. Mental health care is also exploding in terms of knowledge and the interest that people are showing in being able to look after their own minds. For this reason, a masters in clinical mental health counseling may well prove to be the ideal choice in terms of a course that can progress you in this field.
Opportunity to Make a Real Difference in the World
While there are many job roles out there that may not have the real-life impact that you are looking to create, there is no doubt that healthcare is going to one which has a lot of real-life impact. To begin with, your role in healthcare could be to save people’s lives – particularly if you become a doctor or a nurse. While it is well known that being responsible for other people’s wellbeing and health causes high levels of strain and stress, the rewards are also there for all to see. Of course, even if you are not involved in a direct life-saving role, there is plenty to be said for the other types of careers that exist in the world of healthcare. It may be that you are looking to improve quality of life for people, which is certainly a major area of focus as more and more people live to higher ages. Many people automatically think of a hospital when they consider healthcare, but there are plenty of other environments that could use your services.
A Field that is Always Changing
The field of healthcare is one that is always changing and will never stay still. So, it may well be the case that you completed a degree in the field many years ago, but you are now going through further education to update your skills. Even if it is your first degree, you can rest assured that you are going to be right at the cutting edge of change. Linked back to the employability message that was discussed in the first section of this blog post, if you have information and knowledge that is really up to date, it inevitably means that you are going to be in demand. A desire to keep your skills and knowledge refreshed all the time is certainly a worthwhile quality to have when you are in this field.
Financial Support Often Available
As it is in the direct interest of many governments around the world for people to get involved in the field of healthcare, often you are able to obtain some financial support in order to fund your studies. Of course, this is going to vary from place to place, but it is certainly worth looking into – you might find that the role you are considering is high in demand and so lots of countries or business are encouraging people to train. For many people this could mean the difference between entering higher education or not. Even if you are not able to get grants to study, you may well be able to obtain loans that have a highly favorable rate which you can take on, definitely look carefully at how long it will take you to pay it off though. Alternatively, it could well be the case that you can get another organization to fund your course for you with the promise that you are going to be taking on a job role with them in the future. Ultimately, when you are getting involved in the field of healthcare you will be training for a long time and any financial help that you can get will make a big difference.
High Levels of Job Satisfaction
There is a lot involved in the complex area of job satisfaction, but in the field of healthcare a major contributing factor is that you can make a genuine difference to the lives of others – and there is something to be said for going home at the end of a shift knowing that you have brought a little bit of good into the world. Not only this, but you are often working in an environment that fosters a spirit of teamwork and you are all working for one another in a way that does not come up in many other environments. While it is not guaranteed that the financial remuneration that you are going to get is high, there are plenty of situations in which you can progress your career and expect to receive big sums of money in return. Of course, money is not everything, but it can make all the difference in job satisfaction and deciding whether or not you are going to stay along a particular career path or go for a switch instead.
Plenty of Variety
This is a factor that could easily be included in the job satisfaction section, there is no doubt that the variety involved in a healthcare job role is worth discussing on its own. When you are dealing directly with patients you never really know who is going to walk through your doors, as well as the ailments that they are going to need treating. This means that there is a great deal of variety in your day to day working life. When you intend to stay in a job role for a number of years, having enough variety to keep you interested and engaged can really make all the difference in terms of whether you stick it out or not. In terms of career paths, you cannot get much more varied than the careers that are available in healthcare, which is certainly another tick in the right box.
Opportunities Available All Over the World
One thing that can certainly be said of healthcare is that the opportunities that you are able to take on are truly global. Essentially, this means that you are not going to be only limited to your home country if a life of adventure and opportunity is something that you are looking for. Many people have always wanted to live abroad but have not really been sure of when and where the opportunities will arise. There is no doubt that having a stable career that you can slot straight into can make a big difference to begin with, you are familiar with the work and can therefore focus on learning the new culture, people and work environment. At the same time, you may well be entering a nation or region where the healthcare is not as good or poverty is high, such an environment can lead to a great sense of job satisfaction as you are making a genuine difference to the lives of other people in a way that you might otherwise not be able to do. When you decide to live abroad, other opportunities will be available to you, such as the chance to learn about other cultures, the possibility of picking up a new language and so on. All of this can combine into a heady mix which is more available than ever thanks to the choices that you make to pursue healthcare more closely.
Plenty of Chances to Progress in Your Career
For many people, a job role is all about how they are going to be able to progress up to the next level and really further themselves. There is no doubt that healthcare often has a very structured way of progressing to the next level, which helps to provide a very clear path in front of you. For a lot of people, there is certainly a comfort in this, as well as some motivation in working out how they are going to be able to move up in the world. Equally, there are also those who do not have as much ambition and are happy to stay in their current job role for a significant period of time. The changing nature of the job and the variety that comes in day to day work means that this choice does not result in a boring work life.
Gain Some Transferrable Skills
Even if it is the case that you do not want to remain in healthcare for a significant period of time, there is also the sense that you are going to be able to obtain some transferrable skills that you can use in other areas. There is no doubt that these can prove to be highly useful and can help you to stand out from the crowd if it is ever the case that you decide to leave healthcare and move elsewhere. As well as communication skills, you are also demonstrating organization, adaptability, the ability to build up a rapport and problem-solving skills – to name but a few of the abilities that other organizations may well end up prizing.
There you have just a few of the main reasons why a further education in healthcare may well prove to be the ideal next step for you to take on. First of all, there is the inevitable fact that there are plenty of job roles available – and there are only set to be more and more in the future as our populations continue to age and the complications that arise from this are set to grow. Not only this, but it is also a field in which you can feel like you are making a genuine difference to people’s lives – and this is something that you cannot put a price on. Job satisfaction levels tend to be higher than other professions and there is always the chance to progress your career, either up the hierarchy ladder or by specializing in treatments, types of care or similar. Your daily work life will be always changing as you will be working with new patients every day or you can specialize in an area where you focus on repeat patients and instead get satisfaction from seeing a patient all the way through their treatment and recovery.
